LAND SHELLS OF THE GENUS ENA TURTON FROM SWACNI MAIDAN, PARBATTI VALLEY, PUNJAB, WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES (, : FAMILY ) By DR. H. C. RAY, M.So., V.Phil., Assistant Zoologist, Zoological Survey of India, ./abakusum House, Calcutta. PLATES II, III.

INTRODUCTION. In July, 1949, Dr. G. S. Puri, Ecologist, Fore8t Research Institute and College, Dehra Dun, sent for determination one lot of dry shells to the Director, Zoological Survey of India, with the following interesting remarks relating to the ecological conditions which he himself studied a t the time of collecting the specimens :- "I have collected these speoimens of freshwater shells from a moraine (perhaps, of sub-recent age) at an altitude of 10,000 ft., at Swagni Maidan in Pulga. in the Parbatti Valley. The soil was deep clayey, brownish in colour and the specimens were found embedded (0.2" depth) in the clay. " Again, " snow line is just a few hundred feet (perhaps, 300 or so) above the place where these specimens were collected and snow water flows to this place in summer. During winter Swagni Maidan remains under water, and it is probable that glaciers must have descended to this level during the past. The glacia.tion in the valley may be of Pleistocene and also post.Pleistocene age. In some neighbouring valleys glaciers slip down the precipitious slopes even at the present time and such phenomenon is quite common. As a matter of fact, throughout the length and breadth of the Maidan these shells were found ". He has also been good enough to send me two very beautiful photo .. graphs which give a clear idea about the topography of the place where ... from the specimens were collected. I am reproducing these photographs in Plate III (Figs. 1, 2). In this connection he also wanted to know if there was any lacustrine conditions prevailing at Swagni Maidan at the time of the occurrence of the shells. But after carefully examining the shells I found that they represent the true land snails of the genus Ena Turton, not freshwater ones as assumed by Dr. Puri. So, this may possibly lead one to think that there were no lacustrine conditions prevailing at Swagni Maidan at the time of the occurrence of the shells, and that the flow of snow water in the place from the snow line lying just a few feet above, as pointed out by Dr. Puri, might be responsible for making the soil clayey. The matter was referred to Dr. P. K. Ghose, Palaeontologist, Geological Survey of India, Indian Museum, Calcutta~ for opinion, who also arrived at the same conclusion. When the specimens were further examined more critically, aU of them (excepting one which I suspected to be a new form of Ena from a study of the characters displayed by its shell) appeared to show certain features in their shell-characters somewhat closely resembling those of the species E. domina on the one hand and E. arC'ltata on the other (though tending more towards the latter in essential details). But since our entire named collections of that family were very ba,dly damaged by the Varuna flood of 19~13 at Bu,naras and, as suc;h, no reliable specimen~ of ( 31 ] 32 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. XLIX, the group ..~re available here for com:parison, I felt a bit conf,":sed a~t~ the exact ident.ity of the sbel1s In questIon. So, I sent them all (IncludIng that interesting solitary specimen marked as ~b_ and the rest as 2a) .to Dr. \V J. Rees of the British ~fuseum (Nat. Rist.), London, for his expert opinion. The latter has kindly favoured me with the follo\ving reply:- No.2a. "Ena arcuata Hu~ton-compares well with specimens from Calcutta, N. W. India and ~Iahosu in the B. M. Collection". No. 2b. "Ena (sp. ?)-this appears to be a distinct species of which specimens are not available here for comparison. The nearest approach is Ena vibex Hutto:n but the striations a'Te far more prominent than in your specimen ". I t is quite clear from the above remarks that the pecu liarities I noticed in the solitary shell (No. 2b) have been approved by the expert in the British Museum and, as such, may warrant a separate specific rank for the latter, while the rest of the specimens (No. 2a) may easily be referred to the species E. arcuata. So, I consider it a great pleasure to designate the new species as E'na pu'rii after Dr. G. S. Puri who collected the specimens.

Family ENIDAE.

Sub-family ENIN.AE. Ena arcuata (Hutton). (Pl. II, Figs. 1-12.) _~ detailed discussion., about the nonlenclature of this interesting 'species is made by Reevel ; while a good account of its systematic position, salient features and geographical distribution is given by Gude2 • But there are two very interesting points \vhich may be worth-mentioning here. That is, firstly, Swagni Maidan appears to' be a ne\v record; secondly, t.he measurements taken show that the largest shell (fig. 12) in the series of 45 specimens (excluding the two new ones) is 21 mm. in length and 8 n1m. in diameter (with its aperture 7·5 mm. X 6 mm.) which certainly exceeds the 'previous record of 18 mm. X 7·5 mm. known in case of a shell from l\lukraj, Salt Range, Punjab. The smallest shell (f!g. 1) is 12·5 mm.-in length and 5 mm. in diameter (with its aperture 5-mnl. X 4 mm.). It also appears true from the observations made on these shells and the facts on record that if the length of a shell is found to be maximum in the series, its diameter mav01 not also, be so. Similar appears to be the case regarding the length and diameter of the aperture too. Out of 45 shells, I have taken photograpbs of only 12 showing the range of variations in shape and size as well as in other. characters. Locality.-Swagni Maidan (alt .. 10,000 ft.), gently sloping meadow­ o~iginal1y a moraine-without tree growth, in Pulga in the Parbatt~ Valley, Kulu Sub-division, Punjab~ . 16062. Specunens .-Reg. No. l\i 2 ZoologIcal Survey of India.

1 Reeve, L. Oonch. leon. V, pI. lxvii, ap. 478 (1849). 2 Gude, G. K., Faun. Brit. Ind. Mollusca, II, pp. 239, 24-0, fig. 89 (1914). 1951,] RAY, H. C. Land shellsfro'm Punjab. 33

Ena purii, sp. nov .

.(PI. II, Figs. 13, 14.)

.A.t first I found only one large shell (fig. 13) of this remarkable species in the collection mixed up with those of E. arc'ttata, which appeared quite unique in the series. But later on another young specimen was also found in the lot showing similar structural peculiarities. l\. detailed description of this new species is given below :-. Shell small, sinistral, ovato-cylindrically tUl'reted, somewhat resembling E. vibex in appearance, unlbilicated, uniformly covered with a very thin, chalky-white coating on the last four whorls, which more or less coneeals the original horny-brown colour visible only on the uppermost whorls, apex obtuse; whorls 8l, regularly increasing" convex, each one adorned on the surface with numerous distinct longitudinal plications (all of which may not be equal in size or regularly arranged) giving it a corrugated tin-like appearance somewhat-like that of E. netn:lliana (Theobald), the plications gradually becoming more prominent from above downwards; sutures more impressed and oblique; aperture

TEXT FIG. 1. Ventral view of the shell of Ena purii, sp. nov, showin a the hibernaculum in situ. X6. 0 hib. hibernacl~lum; bw. bodywhorl; col. columella; l.- m. lumen of the mouth of shell; pro peristome; or.orif!·ge. oblong .. ovate somewhat-like that of E. arcuata, interior pale brownish, edentate; peristome (Text-fig. I, pr.) broad, reflected as in E. atcuata, but not united ~pwards with the columella (~ol.) \vhich is dilated, slanting and curved (at the place where it unites with upper lip) like that of the latter. The beautiful colour streaks on the':surface, so cha.racteristic of E. arcuata, .E. vibex and others, are entirely la-c~ing in this case. In the young shell (fig. 14) there are only 7 whorls with a sinlilar chalky-white coati~g on the last four, but the plica.tions a.ppear quite indietinct OI._ obsolete on the first two. The peristome is very thin anq not reflected, while the colunlella is less dilated and somewhat straiaht b ' but more angular below. The bodywhorl appears more convex" 34 Record. of the Indian Museum. [VoL XLIX,

To my utter surprise, I found on a closer examination of the large shell the presence of a thin, opaque, calcareous plate, called hibernaculum (see Text-fig. I. hib.) or epiphri\gm, within the lumen of its mouth (1. m.). Such a remarkable structure can only be found in case of the inoperculate and aestivating land snails, which enables the to tide over the most unfavourable climatic conditions, such as, extreme heat or cold, when they retreat themselves within the shells, lie there in a condition of torpor or comatose by closing the aperture with the epiphragm and saving with great difficulty only the skin and flesh on stored up food during this prison life. So, it is quite evident that the which occupied the shell in question certainly passed through such a hard and difficult time before it died. It is known from the note given by Dr. Puri that the shells of this new species as well as those of E. arcuata were collected on 29th May, 1949. But unless the living specimens can be collected in the field and treated carefully in order to see when they actually come out of the shells after the comatose condition by tearing off the epiphragm, it is difficult to ascertain (simply by examining the dead shells) the exact time, either summer or winter, which urge the snails to form this peculiar structure as a measure of protection. The same difficulty arises in the present case also. But it is true that the animal died before it could release itself from its summer or winter sleep. The hibernaculum is oblong-ovate, quite complete, somewhat convex externally, and occupies the extreme lower part of the lumen of the mouth within the bodywhorl. I ts position indicates that it may cor­ respond to the last onc' of the series of three or more such plates (situated at close or short intervals) as described and figured by Annandale and Rao (1925)1, Hora (1927)2 and Rao (192'7)3 in case of some land snails, namely, Zootecus ~n8'Ula.ris (Ebr.) from the Salt Range, Punjab, Macro­ dtlamys glauca Benson from the Kangra Valley, Western Himalayas, and Glessula (Rishetia) kastuia Benson from Pashok (Eastern Himalayas) in the Darj eeling District, Northern Bengal. The lower portion of the hibernaculum is somewhat angular, but the upper portion is more produced towards the upper extremity like a cone and forms an acute angle there. Slightly below this cone-shaped extremity is found a distinct circular orifice (or) which the animal possibly used for the purpose of respiration during the period of aestivation. Measurements.-The large shell mea·sures 15 mm. in lengt.h and 5·5 mm. in diameter with its aperture 5 mm. X 4 mm., while the young one measures 9 mm. in length and 4 mm. in diameter with its aperture 3·5 mm. X 2·5 mm. Type-locality.-Swagni Maidan (alt. 10,000 ft.), a gently sloping meadow-originally a moraine-without tree growth, in Pulga in the Patbatti Valley, KnIu Sub-division, Punjab. Rolotype.-Reg. No. M 16~63 Zoological Survey of India.

Paratype.-Reg. No. M ~6~64 Zoological Survey of India.

1 Annandale, N. and Rao, H. S., Bee. Ind. Mus., XXV, pp.------394, 395 (1925). 2 Hora, S. L., Bee. Ind. MU8., XXIX, pp. 56-62 (1927). S Rao, H. S., Bee. Ind. MU8., ibid., pp. 50-56 (1927). 1951.] RAY, H. C. Land shells/rom Punjab. 35

Remarks.-In the general appearance of its shell, the new species, Ena purii, somewhat approaches En-a vibex, but differs from it markedly in having distinct longitudinal plications (instead of striations) on the surface, more impressed and oblique sutures. It also shows some resemblance to E. arcuata regarding the shape of its aperture and also in the character of the inner and outer lips. Moreover, the nature of rugation or plication on the surface approximates nearly to E. nevilliana. I am greatly indebted to Dr. W. J. Rees of the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), London, for the care and interest with which he has examined the Rpecimens and also for the opinions freely best()\ved. My grateful thanks are dne to Dr. G. S. Puri, Forest Research Institute and College, Dehra Dun, who kindly supplied me all the necessary information wanted with great promptitude together with two very beautiful photo­ graphs.